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9:30AM AEDT 3/11/2020, 4:30PM EST 11/03/2020: The final chapter of one of the most important presidential campaigns in history is being written as I type this. American or not, the magnitude of this moment is not lost on anybody as the future of healthcare, racial equality, gun-related violence, the climate, mass incarceration, immigration, women’s rights and a plan – any plan! – to control the pandemic, hang in the balance.
As we push publish, electoral polls are favouring a Biden win. However, Trump still has a one in 10 chance at re-election. To put that into context, a 10 percent chance of winning is roughly the same odds that it’s raining in downtown Los Angeles. And it does rain in downtown Los Angeles at least 36 times per year. Translation: It’s not over til it’s over.
From the mail-in voting process to the fact the majority party can redraw district boundaries for a political advantage, as an outsider looking in, it’s all disastrous and confusing. US retail stores are boarding up their shop fronts in anticipation of reactionary riots. Celebrities are making last-ditch attempts to persuade Americans to vote. Kamala Harris is tweeting for voters to stay in hours-long lines. CNN is reporting election counts to tunes that could be part of a Pirates Of The Caribbean action scene. Election fatigue is real. What is shared, however, is a collective anxiety as humans imagine another four years of bigotry, fascism and hate. A shared feeling of nervousness, sleeplessness, worry, fear, anger. The list goes on.
While you were sleeping, the smart little woman who managed to nab the @newyorkcity Instagram handle asked her 1.5 million followers from all around the world how they were feeling about the result of this US election. Liz Eswein was inundated with hundreds and hundreds of responses and I wanted to share them with you.
In a year where every corner has been met with nerves and uncertainty, this perhaps takes the cake. Make no mistake, no matter where you live, the US presidency will alter history; how we live, how we dream – and we thank every American who has exercised their right to vote for decency, and the ones still standing in line at this very second.
